Introduction

The Nikkor AF 28-70mm f/3.5-4.5D is an old lens which has seen its best
days during the early 90s. It has a been discontinued a while ago. On an APS-C
DSLR the lens has a field-of-view equivalent to 42-105mm which isn't
terribly useful anymore but the lens was offered among other lenses so
it was worth a quick look.

The mechanical construction of the lens is quite decent based on good
quality polycarbonate and a metal mount. As you can observe above the
lens extends when zooming towards the short end of the zoom
range which is a little unusual but in principal not objectionable.
The zoom and focus control rings feel reasonably smooth. Unfortunately
the front element rotates when focusing so using a polarizer is quite awkward.
Typical for older AF Nikkors the lens has no internal AF motor and
relies on a slotted drive screw operated by the camera.
The moderately noisy AF is quite fast.